A few CVRR pictures and some other related pictures....2

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Life sure seems to have been simpler then, though not quite so convenient as it can be today.

Possibly so, but then maybe some of today's conveniences are not all "needed".

Flush toilets (and tp), air conditioning, and cars are tops with me. Refrigeration is pretty cool, too. Oh, and electricity, of course.

AC & refrigeration, yes. But, flush toilets w/TP were available then along with electricity. Not altogether sure that cars were or are even yet real conveniences. Living smaller with everything walkable w/ public trans has some attractiveness.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Some of that assumes walking is always possible for a person's anatomy and health/abilities, etc. Also, conveniences can be protective of us.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Some of that assumes walking is always possible for a person's anatomy and health/abilities, etc. Also, conveniences can be protective of us.

True. But somehow our fore bearers survived long enough to assure our existence. Maybe they were cut of tougher cloth?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Some of that assumes walking is always possible for a person's anatomy and health/abilities, etc. Also, conveniences can be protective of us.

True. But somehow our fore bearers survived long enough to assure our existence. Maybe they were cut of tougher cloth?

I don't know the answer to that.

I can submit for your consideration, however, in that regard, that as a boy during the 40's and 50's (which was not so long-ago as your photo, of course,) I came to respect the men who worked in the steel mills, around the clock, covering shifts: 3 - 11; 11 - 7; 7 - 3, as incredibly tough. The mills were hellholes, IMO, enough that being in them convinced me to work there for only one Summer and then work real hard in college, so I'd never have to go back to the mills, where all the men in my family worked, exemplified by this photo, taken at Homestead Steel Works, a couple miles down a hill from my childhood home..

I've been in one of these rooms, just like this, wherein a ladle was depositing (my word for it) melted iron (or was it steel? ) into ingot molds. (I'm sure one of my betters, here on MTJ, will refresh my memory in that regard.) The intensity of the heat was beyond accurate description, as far as I was concerned, but HELL was sufficient to move me along.

The man in the "pulpit," as it was called, was a mystery to me, not because he was able to operate the overhead crane, though that was fascinating enough for me, but because heat rises, which meant he always had a face-full of the heat that radiated directly from that ladle of molten metal.

So, yes, as you said, they were indeed "cut from" tough "cloth" which we may not see the likes of today, and yes, they certainly gave me the foundation of the life I live today. But "tougher"? I don't know but do have my suspicions, now that you've made a point of it.

P,S, The folks in the medical profession, particularly the surgeons, in my experience as a patient, and in my mind, are certainly cut from unique, tough, gifted cloth. I don't know where they get the guts for all that analysis/diagnosis, plus its resulting surgical decisions, opening somebody up and saying to themselves and the patient that the problem can be fixed.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

So, yes, as you said, they were indeed "cut from" tough "cloth" which we may not see the likes of today, and yes, they certainly gave me the foundation of the life I live today. But "tougher"? I don't know but do have my suspicions, now that you've made a point of it.

The lack of that being cut from tougher cloth may have much to do with all too many aspects of our current society.

The folks in the medical profession, particularly the surgeons, in my experience as a patient, and in my mind, are certainly cut from unique, tough, gifted cloth. I don't know where they get the guts for all that analysis/diagnosis, plus its resulting surgical decisions, opening somebody up and saying to themselves and the patient that the problem can be fixed.

It does take a certain mental condition oft times bordering on some that would otherwise result in incarceration. Then again, maybe the ones that I have had interactions with are just bug-nutz crazy as loons and I've only met outliers over my entire career. Each specialty does seem to attract a certain set of core personality qualities.

[rogruth]

All of the above makes sense to me.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

A bit later in time than the usual card; 40's maybe. Aerial view of Concord, Pa right up the road from my place in Pa. Not sure that it has really changed all that much since that time either.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

That photo perfectly exemplifies something I have often noted and wondered about regarding so many of the older communities in the more rural parts of Pennsylvania.

That is, folks who built those houses, back then, appear to have preferred having their houses built very close to the edge of the road, or right up next to it; whereas, in more modern custom, homeowners seem to prefer having their houses built a good distance - as far as possible, with the house still visible from the roadway, however - away from the flow of traffic. Most people don't want travelers to have too intimate a view directly into their homes, which is easily accomplished, even if done casually, especially when the front door or drapes are open in a house which has a front porch nearly abutting the roadway's edge.

Do you have a viewpoint about why houses were built so close to roadways, some not even a road shoulder's width away from the pavement, back then? I've noticed such houses built close to the edges of the roadways when I have changed from Rt78 and traveled along Rt 222 and 422, as I have made my way through PA to Lancaster and York.

[rogruth]

Murph,
I noticed the same in towns in Ohio.
If there was a front yard it was smaller than the back yard.
Today seems to be the opposite.
Of course in some cases there are no yards.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Do you have a viewpoint about why houses were built so close to roadways, some not even a road shoulder's width away from the pavement, back then?

The houses are a good bit older than the paved road. That road used to be dirt and gravel, and was used by horse drawn vehicles. That road is a lot wider than it was originally. There was no shoulder then and the 2 lanes were not much more than a single lane by the time that photo was taken.

The houses were not built close to the road; the road expanded to become closer to the houses.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Murph,
I noticed the same in towns in Ohio.
If there was a front yard it was smaller than the back yard.
Today seems to be the opposite.
Of course in some cases there are no yards.

Yes, some of the front porches are so close to the roadway's edge and the press of traffic that I sure wouldn't want kids playing there, supervised or not; in fact, I wouldn't even want, as an adult, to sit on the porch that close to traffic. I wonder what happens to those porches and front doors and windows when snow is plowed ! (?)

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Do you have a viewpoint about why houses were built so close to roadways, some not even a road shoulder's width away from the pavement, back then?

The houses are a good bit older than the paved road. That road used to be dirt and gravel, and was used by horse drawn vehicles. That road is a lot wider than it was originally. There was no shoulder then and the 2 lanes were not much more than a single lane by the time that photo was taken.

The houses were not built close to the road; the road expanded to become closer to the houses.

Makes sense to me. Yet some of the old stone inns/taverns I have seen along those same roads seem to have been built deliberately close to the passage of horse-drawn "traffic," which I had concluded was done due to the businesses wanting to appear welcoming and easy and convenient for horses to be tethered.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Do you have a viewpoint about why houses were built so close to roadways, some not even a road shoulder's width away from the pavement, back then?

The houses are a good bit older than the paved road. That road used to be dirt and gravel, and was used by horse drawn vehicles. That road is a lot wider than it was originally. There was no shoulder then and the 2 lanes were not much more than a single lane by the time that photo was taken.

The houses were not built close to the road; the road expanded to become closer to the houses.

Makes sense to me. Yet some of the old stone inns/taverns I have seen along those same roads seem to have been built deliberately close to the passage of horse-drawn "traffic," which I had concluded was done due to the businesses wanting to appear welcoming and easy and convenient for horses to be tethered.

Yup. Once upon a time people wanted to be close to the action and communicate, socialize, etc., and now they want to be 1/4 mile back off the road behind a fence and a gate.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Yes, and I suppose those ubiquitous front porches had a lot to do with socializing and community building, watching, seeing, and observing all the details of life. Right?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Yes, and I suppose those ubiquitous front porches had a lot to do with socializing and community building, watching, seeing, and observing all the details of life. Right?

Check.